Schedule H, H1 and X: what a medical store needs to record

Scheduled drugs are sold only against a valid prescription, and some of them must be written in a register. Drug inspectors look at this register closely. This article gives a practical view of what to record. The rules differ by state and change over time, so check the current rules with your state drug control office before you rely on any detail here.

The three groups in short

• Schedule H: prescription drugs. They are sold only on a valid prescription from a registered doctor.
• Schedule H1: a stricter group, which includes certain antibiotics and other drugs that are easily misused. A separate register has to be kept.
• Schedule X: drugs with the strictest control, with their own record and storage requirements.

What the register usually needs

For each sale of a scheduled drug, shops are expected to note details such as:

1. Date of sale and bill number.
2. Name of the drug, batch number and quantity.
3. Name and address of the patient.
4. Name and registration number of the prescribing doctor.

Records have to be kept for a fixed number of years, which is longer for some schedules. Confirm the exact period for your state.

Why the register goes wrong

• Details are written later from memory, so they are incomplete.
• The register is a separate paper book, so a sale and its entry do not match.
• Nobody can quickly find all sales of one drug during an inspection.

Make billing ask for the details

The most reliable way to keep a correct register is to collect the details at the moment of billing. When the product is marked as Schedule H, H1 or X, the bill should not be saved until the doctor and patient details are filled in. Then every scheduled sale has an entry, because the entry is made by the bill itself.

MedSync works this way. A product can be marked with its schedule, billing requires the doctor and patient fields for scheduled drugs, and the drug register lists these sales by date and exports to Excel, so you can hand it over during an inspection.

Before an inspection

1. Open the register for the period and check that every scheduled bill has an entry.
2. Compare the stock of scheduled drugs with the purchase and sale records.
3. Keep the prescriptions that the rules ask you to keep.
4. Keep your drug licence and the pharmacist's registration where they can be seen.

A register that fills itself at the counter is far less work than one that has to be rebuilt in a hurry.